LIGHTNOVELONLINE Chapter 23 It's hard to play love affairs (1)
Baron Mikhail's estate.
After the novice village was destroyed, his estate, which was located closest to the village, benefited from it.
“Looking for warriors to subdue the goblin lair!”
“Find a thief to break the Lost Town's Troublemaker Quest!”
“Items are cheap and urgent! Go see it!”
The central square of the city has become more crowded than ever before. Full of vitality, this place has established itself as a hot flow in the second continent in name and reality.
“There are a lot of quests, and the level of monsters around is appropriate. It's fine here.”
“It’s okay because the range of equipment levels is wider than that.”
Helven Mine, one of the major iron ore production areas in the Second Continent. Based on the abundant iron ore from there, the equipment produced within a wide spectrum from master craftsmen to apprentice blacksmiths was one of the factors that made users settle here.
“Hey, isn’t it that easy to find a place that sells gear that matches your level? It's not common in towns where you can request personal production when you don't have the equipment you like.”
There are countless crafting workshops in the city. There, any weapon or any armor was made if you paid for the material and gold, so there were even people who purposely came from other places. Besides...
“I’m looking for a part-time job to help mine iron ore!”
“Looking for someone to mine iron ore... Please help me.”
“I will give you urgently. Who wants to dig like iron ore! High-ranking mining enthusiasts are welcome.”
After being blackened with iron dust, the clothes were tight. People who looked pitiful just by looking at them, holding pickaxes with missing teeth, were pathetically rescuing people in the town square.
“What are those people?”
“Uh... don’t you know? Those are the mining slaves.”
“A mining slave?”
“There are people who almost signed slavery contracts to make money in the mines. Those people claim that the plan was made by the lord because the iron ore was so short... but will that be the case in the game?”
“Hehe.... It's amazing.”
Exclusive contract for mine mining.
A contract that was secretly signed at the entrance of the Hellven Mine, demanding an unbelievable level of mine usage fee. Those who were tricked by the pretty NPC's smile and unknowingly signed the contract later realized the horror of the contract, but it was already too late.
“This is a scam! There is no law in the game to exploit labor like this!”
“Game companies should improve this ridiculous situation right away!”
“This crazy lord eats the backs of users while doing it!”
Several times, sporadically dissatisfied users staged protests and were subdued by guards. The incident became famous domestically and no more black cows signed contracts, but Baron Mikhail had no complaints.
“Ha ha ha ha! Come on!”
Baron Mikhail warmly welcomes Jae-young's visit. Hearing his hearty laugh, Jaeyoung smiled bitterly.
“How did you get so many new miners?”
“Hehehe... I don’t think I will be worried for the next year.”
Sitting down on the sofa, Baron Mikhail began to talk about the effects of the contract.
“I don't know what you did, but just like you said, the number of adventurers with pickaxes has increased tremendously. And when I asked them for a ridiculous advance payment and secretly handed out the contract, do you know how many people accepted it?”
“Iknow, right? How much?”
“That's just 9693 people! 9693 people! Ha ha ha ha!”
9693 people.
Considering that the number of workers hired and operated by the lord was about 800, the number reached 10 times. The number of people increased incomparably, and the benefits the lord would get were astronomical because he didn't have to pay any welfare expenses. In addition...
“This clause states that you must pay 30% of the mined iron ore as a fee and sell iron ore unconditionally to the merchants in the territory or to the exchange. What the hell did you think? No matter how you look at it, it's really ingenious and novel!”
“Well... it wasn’t something I thought of, but I got the inspiration from somewhere.”
Isn't there a saying that bears do tricks and people keep money? Originally, the world is not a world where workers who work hard and sweat are making money. A world of so-called platforms where those who provide a place to work so that they can earn money can make money. Jaeyoung only taught Baron Mikhail the logic of such a world.
A greedy business owner who rips off part of the iron ore he produces as a fee, then rips off more for all kinds of pretexts, such as sales tax, special tax, and income tax, tossing out all the desirable flesh and leaving only crumbs. Baron Mikhail, swollen with the thought of becoming such a business owner, muttered with his eyes wide open and his saliva drooling.
“Hehehehehehe.... If this is the case, if we make a new ore trading tax and extract more...!”
Looking at Baron Mikhail, who is more aware of himself than he has been told and makes things that he has never heard of before, Jae-young sees Baron Mikhail who is even more tenaciously thinking of stealing the backs of users. I felt an unknown guilt. “You'll take care of that part now... I think you've achieved your goal, but now let's talk about the reward.”
The troubles of the quest lord.
The goal of achieving 100,000 daily mining has already been exceeded. Now that 200,000 mining was just around the corner, Baron Mikhail nodded happily and said,
“Right! compensation!”
At the same time, Baron Mikhail handed Jaeyoung a thick pouch from his desk drawer.
“As promised, 10% of the extra income.”
[You have obtained 12 gold and 23 silver.]
12 gold and 23 silver. At the current gold market price, it is a large sum of 1,223,000 won.
Youngju asked Jaeyoung, who received the large amount of money and his eyes widened.
“why? Is it too little?”
“....yes?”
Jaeyoung was surprised by so many, but Yeongju must have misunderstood something from the expression on his face, so he started making all kinds of excuses.
“Aren't you sure you asked for 10% of your extra income? I calculated only the additional increased income, excluding the existing income. And this month, it's because it's calculated from the middle, and next time, if you settle on the last day of each month, it will probably be more than now. And besides...”
He kept talking about it, but Jaeyoung was lost in thought while tapping the calculator in his head.
‘If this is enough, there will be no problem with the capsule installment payment.....'
About 900,000 won in monthly installments. However, Young-joo was cheating on users by charging all sorts of fees and taxes with his genius and devil-like ability, and there were a lot more users who were deceived by Jae-young's video than expected.
‘This is why people are filming videos...'
Jaeyoung realized how powerful the influence of the videos uploaded to Arpandia was. After the video became a hot topic, the number of views alone exceeded 1 million, and thanks to that, it was able to entangle close to 10,000 people.
Although his video, which was embroiled in controversy from the beginning and was full of controversy, is now full of comments filled with anger and resentment from those who have been harmed by it now that all of this has been revealed.
-Where do you live? I have something to talk about closely, so please give me the address.
-I became a slave in the game because of you.
-Do you have to work outside as well as work inside?
-Hey, this dog XXX! I really do XXXX with you XXXX someday and XXXXX with you.
Fortunately, since all information was set to private, everything that could identify Jae-young was edited out of the video, so there was no one to harm him, but when he was determined to be careful in the future, the lord asked.
“Are you listening?”
“yes?”
Jae-young, who was trying to organize his thoughts in his head, threw away all the words of the lord. When I suddenly returned to reality, the lord was looking at him with strange eyes.
“I mean, do you really have any intention of working for me?”
The lord is licking his lips as if he really wants it. The lord looks at himself with a worried expression, thinking of tearing the spines of the users who have been reduced to slavery in the mines. Jaeyoung, who got goosebumps from the lord's expression, shook his head fiercely and said firmly.
“As I said before, I have no intention of staying here for long.”
Originally, he planned to stay longer, but he had no intention of staying here for long because of the ugly atrocities (?) he committed along with Tan and the small conscience that remained in his heart.
“Um... that's a pity. Then I will give you another one.”
[You have obtained the quest reward.]
[Item. You have acquired the ‘Lord's Recommendation'.]
A sealed scroll with the seal of Baron Mikhail. Jae-young, who received it, looked at it with doubtful eyes, and he started talking.
“Do you know what situation our kingdom is in right now?”
Maroon Kingdom is located in the center of the 2nd continent of Arcadia. As a bridgehead leading anywhere on the continent and a geopolitically important commercial hub, the Maroon Kingdom was in a pretty good location throughout the continent.
To the east is the Harmel Empire. To the west is the kingdom of Paquel, an old enemy. The Bamal Empire to the north and the Gael Federation to the south. Surrounded by one cannibalistic enemy and powerful nations that dare not stand against each other, the Maroon Kingdom has survived by walking a tightrope both politically and diplomatically.
“Until now, our Maroon Kingdom has maintained its existence by maintaining its neutrality and not collaborating with any power thanks to the wisdom of its ancestors. It's embarrassing, but it's the only way for our kingdom to survive.”
It's mouth-watering like a gorilla, but it's a bit of an existence to eat while making a life-and-death decision with neighboring countries. That was the Maroon Kingdom.
“By the way... these days, the atmosphere in the royal family is unusual.”
Baron Mikhail, who knows in detail about the trends that are happening in the political world of Maroon Kingdom. Thanks to his story, Jae-young was able to grasp the royal family's circumstances in detail.
“So... as the current king is getting old, the prince has to succeed to the throne, but he's too young to hold the power properly?”
succession to the throne. However, since the successor was too young, wild beasts were rampaging here and there to seize blind power.
“That’s right. Currently, the Duke of Bergen is at the head of the noble faction, rallying most of the nobles and turning the king into a scarecrow! Besides, what he claims is too dangerous!”
“Um... is that so?”
It was a story of no interest to Jaeyoung because it was a foreign country anyway, but Baron Mikhail was infinitely serious.
“A war with the Paquel Kingdom! To do that with the help of the Harmel Empire! Is that a sane thing to do!”
From the point of view of Baron Mikhail, a royalist and staunch neutralist, this was an argument that would infuriate a thousand people. So, as if excited, he raised his voice with a blushing face and then spoke seriously to Jaeyoung.
“Seeing your ability to solve problems in our territory, it will probably be of great help to our royal family. Take my letter of recommendation and go to Count Boroken. If it were him, he would recognize your ability and entrust you with a big job.”
“Umm...”
Jaeyoung was troubled by his words.
He wanted to play a normal game, not to get into a headache by getting involved in all sorts of political fights like this.
Of course, it was full of the smell that the reward would be enormous, but Jaeyoung thought because he had an intuition that if it went wrong, he would have to run around with a terrible crime like a traitor.
‘But I don't think this is...?'
Even in the current situation, the capsule installment payment has already been resolved. Since I didn't have much greed for gold, I didn't want to take a huge risk. So, just as he was about to shake his head, a message suddenly appeared in front of Jaeyoung's eyes.
[The new mission has been updated.]
[Check the mission details.]
A system mission dedicated to Wanderers in the Chaotic World.
Realizing that this was renewed, Jaeyoung sighed as soon as he shut his mouth that he had opened to refuse.
‘ha.... This damn game.'
Apparently, this game made it impossible for him to watch him calmly enjoy the game. So, Jaeyoung immediately looked at Baron Mikhail with firm eyes and picked up the letter of recommendation.
“I will try the best I can.”
Seeing Jaeyoung like that, Baron Mikhail said with a thrilled expression, “Where is such a loyal adventurer?”, but he didn't listen to Jaeyoung.
Isn't this all about earning probability?